Call Me Irresponsible
by JRW9699
Summary: He's a veteran ARGUS agent with a penchant for bows and exotic motorcycles. She's a hacker, doing time for a murder she swears that she didn't commit. Season 1 re-write, sorta. ON TEMPORARY HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**Call Me Irresponsible**

 **Rating: 'T' for this first chapter, 'M' from Chapter 2 onwards.**

 **Characters (In order of appearance): Oliver Queen, Felicity Smoak, Roy Harper, Amanda Waller, Curtis Holt, Tommy Merlyn, Laurel Lance, John Diggle, Shado, Cooper Seldon, Malcom Merlyn, and Slade Wilson.**

 **Summary: He's a veteran ARGUS agent with a penchant for bows and exotic motorcycles. She's a hacker, doing time for a murder she swears that she didn't commit. Season 1 re-write, sorta.**

 **Disclaimer:** **Sadly I do not own Arrow or any of its related characters.**

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 **Chapter 1**

After 5 years of working his way up the ranks of ARGUS, he thought he'd seen everything. It had taken him a long time to establish any actually credibility as an agent when everyone else saw him as just a kid, too young and too juvenile. He made a point of proving them wrong though – with homemade gadgets, unique tools and a talent for averting international crises in a way that was labelled as being far outside ARGUS' typical methods. They called him 'The Arrow', a name that had stuck since his very first mission as an ARGUS operative, back in China when Waller had just been using him as an expendable foot-soldier. He'd handled arms deals, broken up international smuggling rings, assassination attempts, a couple of plots to take over the world, the odd nuclear scare and he'd even managed to personally save the President's life on one occasion.

So needless to say, Oliver Queen thought he was ready for anything that would be thrown his way.

Then came Felicity Smoak. This job was painfully below his paygrade, some prototype had been stolen and ARGUS had got wind of the case. Oliver never handled corporate espionage; there was nothing that pained him more, especially given who his family were. The problem with corporate espionage, Oliver had decided, was that there was hardly ever a situation that could be resolved by putting an arrow through it. Yet, for whatever reason, Waller had decided to have him work the case, a complete waste of his talents as far as Oliver was concerned.

At least it had given him a chance to get to know Felicity Smoak, she was something else entirely. A hacker and international thief, she'd started out as a member of a small-time hacktivist group that called themselves Brother Eye before getting scouted by the elusive Helix. ARGUS had been after Helix for a long time, but they'd never been able to get any solid leads on them. That was until they captured Helix's founder, Cayden James. Much to the chagrin of Waller, James had given them nothing and Helix had carried on as if nothing had happened.

Enter Felicity Smoak. ARGUS knew about her of course, but they had no clue just how good a hacker she was. Smoak had all but replaced James as the frontrunner of Helix for almost 2 years until she was caught by the FBI. Needless to say Waller had been furious, ARGUS didn't exactly get on very well with the Bureau and they had been less than cooperative when Waller had requested Smoak be transferred into ARGUS custody.

He glanced to the file in his hands, at the picture of Smoak pinned to the front. She was beautiful, and he'd seen plenty of beautiful women but none so much as her, seen them flirt themselves into situations that would usually make any man resort to violence. That was the main reason Oliver enjoyed working with woman so much. They had so much more style, intelligence and common sense to the male agents at ARGUS. His only problem was that ARGUS had a lot of rumours going around about him and the high number of female partners he'd gone through. They said that he'd only gone through so many female partners because he couldn't decide which one he liked the most. There wasn't much truth to that, sure he might have been a bit of a playboy but he didn't leave his partners, they left him.

"You sure about this?" Smoak's warden pulled Oliver from his thoughts. "She's dangerous, get what you need and ditch her. Don't get involved in any of her games."

Oliver couldn't mask the grin that tugged at his lips, the problem was he rather _liked_ games.

"Smoak's serving a life sentence for murder in the first, and there's a damn good reason she's in solitary. It might be a mistake trying to get her to help you."

"Well, what's life without a mistake or two, warden?" Oliver threw a cocky grin at the older man.

"This is why the Bureau hates working with you ARGUS characters, you don't take things like this seriously." The warden scowled.

"Of course this is serious warden, right now Smoak is our only lead on finding this prototype and she knows better than anyone who could have stolen it."

As far as Oliver had been made aware, Helix had been looking into this prototype before it was stolen, making them the most likely suspects for the theft. Apparently it had been under Smoak that Helix had been investigating the prototype, making Cayden James useless to ARGUS on this occasion.

"Well if Smoak wasn't already in this cell I'd be telling you to make her your prime suspect." The Warden continued as he opened the final door.

The two of them froze in place. The heavy metal door to Smoak's solitary cell had been left ajar. Leaving the Warden behind him, Oliver walked into the room.

Pinned to the far wall, just above a table, was a small white card. " _Better luck next time_ " was written on the card in red pen, with a very distinct lipstick marking added to the bottom corner.

"She's escaped!" The Warden turn on his heel and began to run back down the corridor he and Oliver had just walked through.

Oliver stayed where he was stood, looking at the note pinned to the wall as a smile crept over his face. That certainly left a lasting first impression of Felicity Smoak.

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 **Author's Note: So this is something I put together a year or so back, I'd completely forgotten about it until I stumbled across it earlier. I think this is going to be my next big project after I finish 'If You Believed in Me' so let me know if you guys think it's worth continuing.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Author's Note: Well I wasn't expecting it but this story get unbelievable display of support. I definitely think this is worth continuing now and I'll be writing it alongside my other story 'If You Believed in Me'. If all goes to plan you'll be getting this story on a** **Wednesday** **and IYBIM on a** **Friday** **, but knowing the way I work it'll never end up like that.**

 **AN IMPORTANT THING HAPPENED – Well not that important I guess but I changed the name of this story. It sorta just hit me while listening to Frank Sinatra…so, yeah.**

 **As a note, I feel like Felicity is going to feel a lot more like Selina Kyle personality wise during this story. I just feel it's how her character would develop given the circumstances. Anyhow, hope you enjoy.**

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To say Waller had been furious at Smoak's escape would have been an understatement. Waller had decided to add it to her ever-growing of reasons which she saw using to convince the U.S. government to let ARGUS fully replace the FBI. To the surprise of everyone at the agency, Waller, for the first time since she unofficially declared war on the Bureau, was actually succeeding in her augment. If Waller had been furious then the government were…Oliver decided that his description of that would be a little colourful to say the least.

Oliver on the other hand was, in secret at least, at least a little thrilled by Felicity's escape. It had given him a chance to track down one of the most elusive hackers ARGUS had ever gone after. The first time the organisation had been in search of Smoak, Oliver had been working an undercover operation in Russia, only returning a few months after she was captured by the Bureau.

From what Oliver understood, and there was no official paperwork to prove what he had managed to find out, Smoak had finally been caught after she'd called an ambulance to aid the man she had supposedly killed. Smoak had been arrested at the scene and a day later murder was added to her charge sheet. Regrettably, he'd had no luck finding out who her victim was. There had been nothing released by the Bureau or the local PD, and the ARGUS files needed clearance only available to Waller herself. There was plenty of speculation amongst the members of ARGUS who'd worked the case though; some said it was a rival to her leadership at Helix, or another hacker that the group was competing with. Oliver couldn't agree with any of those rumours, if any of them had been true then Smoak wouldn't have called an ambulance after the shooting, nor would she have refuted the charges so absolutely. Yet, all the evidence had pointed towards her as the killer. The victim was shot point blank in the chest, and the murder weapon was found later that day with Smoak's prints on the grip and the victim's blood splattered on the inside of the barrel.

That just added to the list of reasons that Oliver was becoming fascinated with Felicity Smoak.

It had taken him far longer than he would have liked to admit, but Oliver finally tracked her down to Gotham City, where she was attending a charity gala of all things. The event was being hosted at the Wayne Enterprises building, and the guests were all perfectly robed to match the black-tie theme. Even Oliver was outfitted in a tuxedo, although he did have his other suit in a duffle bag he'd stashed in the hall earlier, as well as a spare in the boot of the car he'd brought.

Felicity Smoak was something else. It had been impossible for him to miss her, epically when Oliver had expected to need to be on high alert. She shone amongst the rest of the crowd; clad in a deep blue gown, that hugged her curves in all the right ways, and with killer heels to match. Oliver had to relent that she looked incredible, and so much better than a woman who was supposed to be serving as life sentence _should_. Not that Oliver had met many women who were set to be locked in some ARGUS blacksite for the rest of their lives before. After the debacle with Helena Bertinelli, Waller seemed to be doing her best to keep Oliver away from criminals of the opposite sex.

He had a reasonable idea of what Smoak was after. Wayne Enterprises had just unveiled some new super computer chip, Oliver couldn't even begin to pretend that he understood all that technical stuff but he knew enough to guess that Smoak would try to sneak away at some stage to steal it. Even if that wasn't what she was after Oliver knew he now had a good chance to bring her in here and now, except he still needed to find the stolen prototype.

Oliver had watched her from a distance, observing the way she flirted and mingled with the crowds, and, even though he knew she had no idea who he was, she had thrown him a pretty significant look across the crowded room. The brazen smile she had given him was one he knew all too well, the rumours about his partners maybe he been a little off but it couldn't be said that Oliver wasn't a little bit of a ladies' man.

Nearly half an hour after his arrival, and after Smoak's fourth dance, Oliver approached her. Her smile didn't go amiss when he approached her.

"I'd love to dance, though it's only fair I give you warning, you'd better know what you're doing if you're going to tango with me." The sultry smirk that crossed her lips washing over him.

"I think I'll be able to handle you." Oliver grinned easily, taking her hands and pulling her onto the dance floor.

A breathy giggle escaped her lips as they moved. "Is that a promise?"

A grin crossed his lips, Oliver really liked her, and it was a shame he'd have to take her back to prison, under ARGUS custody this time. They span around on the dance floor for a few minutes, and regrettably there was no tango to be had, despite Smoak's flirtatious taunting, though Oliver still thoroughly enjoyed himself.

"So, how did you manage to track me down, Mr. Queen, or would you prefer I call you Arrow?" her sudden declaration threw him off, though Oliver managed to keep the flow of the dance. "Come on, don't act so surprised. Did you really think I wouldn't know who you are? Helix hacked ARGUS years ago, I know everything there is to know about you. You're the Arrow, the man sent to bring me in. You know, I'd usually take offence to people trying to arrest me, but I'm rather flattered that ARGUS decided they needed to put you on the case. All this attention certainly makes a girl feel special."

"Well espionage and escape from prison tend to bring a lot of attention," Oliver quickly returned. "Just give back that prototype and this can end right now, Felicity. You don't mind if I call you Felicity, do you?"

Between the flirtatious grin that flooded her lips and how close she leaned into him, Smoak was driving him mad. "You can call me anything you want, Oliver."

Oh, two could play at that game.

Oliver matched her grin and leaned in far closer to her than she had to him, so close that he could smell the faint trace of lavender on her hair, whispering into her ear. "Give it back, Felicity."

"Or what? I'm already serving life without parole. What are you planning to do?" Felicity pulled just far enough away that she could wink at him. "Put me over your knee and spank me?"

"Don't tempt me." Oliver allowed the hand he had on her waist to travel down just an inch, and he couldn't deny that he got a kick out of her reaction. He hadn't thought it was possible for Felicity's grin to become any more seductive but, in response to his action, it did. The two continued to dance for a moment before Oliver continued. "Something tells me you're not quite grasping the seriousness of this situation. You've stolen a prototype that the U.S. government is particularly interested in. ARGUS has killed people for far less."

"You really think this is just about the prototype? There is so much more than that going on here. You're being played, Oliver, and it looks like you don't even know it."

"You don't really think I'm going to fall for that do you?"

"Tell me, Oliver, what do you know about the League of Assassins?"

That certainly got Oliver's attention. The League was one of the oldest regimes in the world; it had been a serious political influence over the last few years and was said to have the largest war chest in history. The group was said to have been instrumental in the rise and fall of civilisations dating back millennia. The leader of the group, the ever elusive Ra's al Ghul, had never been caught on camera, but rumours persisted that the man had lived for over 600 years. If the dictatorial leader's history was anything to go by, then his plans for the prototype weren't likely to be benevolent.

"What does the League have to do with any of this?"

"Hmm," the simple humming sound that escaped her lips was enough to distract him for a brief enough moment for her to lean in and press her lips against his. Oliver returned the kiss as though it were the most natural thing in the world, which clearly was a mistake. The next thing Oliver felt was a sharp prick against his upper arm before his vision began to blur, eventually fading into darkness.

 _XXX_

Waking up in a car he didn't recognise and somewhere that definitely wasn't where he was knocked out, hadn't exactly been a great surprise to Oliver. He had to fight to force his eyes open, whatever sedative Smoak had hit him with had been seriously strong. Slowly taking in the view outside the car, Oliver had a vague idea of where he was: the Port of Gotham. It looked like the car was parked in front of a warehouse, which appeared to be unoccupied.

It was then Oliver realised he was sat in the passenger seat and his defences immediately kicked in. Turing his head, he saw Felicity Smoak sat in the driver's seat. She was still clad in her blue gown, looking a little out of place compared to the rest of their surroundings. Thankfully, she hadn't noticed he was awake, all of her attention seemed to be on the warehouse before them.

Oliver's first instinct was to check for the variety of hidden weapons he kept. The flechettes he had concealed under his left sleeve, the knife attached to his belt, and the small handgun strapped to his right ankle were all gone. Smoak really did know her stuff. Unfortunately, his movements drew her attention.

"Oh good, you're finally awake." She seemed worryingly cheerful for someone who was about to be arrested.

"Where are we?" Oliver started simple, if he could get her to give away enough information about what it as they were doing, he might be able to get the upper hand.

"Look, the way I see it, we both want the same thing. Whatever it is you've been told about me, it isn't true. I'm not you're enemy, Oliver."

She was even more brazen than he had thought, there was no way Oliver was gullible enough to believe anything she told him. This was how she worked and he knew it. Smoak was well known for her talent for seducing and beguiling her marks, and he wasn't about to become the latest in a long line who'd fall for her antics just because she smiled at him.

"You drugged me." It wasn't a question, and it was as close as Smoak was getting to an answer to her previous question, there was no way he was going to trust this woman. "How did you manage to get me out of the gala without anyone noticing?" Okay, so maybe he was a little curious about how she pulled that one off.

"Well I didn't knock you out per se…just a mild sedative that also made you highly perceptible to suggestion." Smoak had a grin tugging at the corner of her lip as she spoke.

"What did you use on me?" He was beginning to get impatient with her.

"Oh come on, Oliver. You can't expect a woman to go giving out all her secrets on the first date." The wink she threw his way was about the most infuriating thing Oliver had encountered all day.

Oliver knew he wasn't getting any straight answers out of her, Smoak was purposely being evasive about her methods. He couldn't really blame her though. If he was a wanted criminal, Oliver would like to think he'd keep his cards close to his chest. Her deflection was understandable he resigned, but that didn't mean he was happy with it.

"So who are we staking out?" Oliver had a pretty good guess that was why they were sat outside a warehouse and not heading back to wherever Helix had their headquarters.

In fact, Oliver was beginning to wonder why Smoak hadn't run straight back to Helix. Given that the organisation was so secretive, he would have thought that would have been her first stop after escaping, they seemed like a group who'd have the resources enough to make someone disappear. Yet here she was, sat outside some abandoned warehouse in Gotham City, right next to the ARGUS agent that was tasked to bring her in. Yeah, Smoak was definitely as mad as they said she was.

"Well I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count." The grin returned as she spoke.

"Smoak, you say that like I have even the vaguest idea who any of your contacts are. There's a reason it took ARGUS so long to find you the first time." Oliver wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to put up with her before he just called in backup and brought her in.

Felicity turned to face him and the smile dropped from her face, a resolute seriousness taking over her expression. "Give me a day. Just twenty-four hours to follow up on a lead. Come with me and let me prove to you that this whole thing has been rigged against me from the start. If we don't find anything I'll let you cuff me yourself." She trailed off and a sultry smirk crossed her lips. "Actually, I might let you do that anyway, sounds fun."

This woman was going to be the death of him, if the unending innuendo didn't finish him off then she would herself. For whatever reason Oliver was tempted to give her the benefit of the doubt, he had said himself that a lot of the evidence in her murder charge hadn't seemed right. If she could prove that she had been set up, then didn't he owe it to her to make sure her name was cleared? Sure, Smoak had done some pretty illegal stuff when she'd been running Helix, but she'd never killed anyone.

"Oliver, you're too good an agent to get stuck on some corporate espionage case and you know it." She met his eyes and some silent understanding crossed between them. "If you don't trust me, then trust your gut."

He was so getting fired for this.

"Twenty-four hours, and if this is some sort of game, Smoak, you'll regret it."

"Even if it was, Oliver, you'd struggle to find a man who regretted playing any of my games."

 _XXX_

Almost another half an hour had passed since he had agreed to give Smoak the twenty-four hours she'd asked for to prove her innocence and, given the lack of an appearance by whoever it was they were meant to be meeting, Oliver was starting to doubt the reality of her plea. Typical to his luck it was at that moment that a figure finally emerged from the warehouse, and it took Oliver a while to make out a clear image of their target in the darkness. It looked to him as though they were going after a teenager, the kid had short hair and a bright red hoodie that looked a little out of place amongst the dull shipping containers.

"That's our guy." Smoak began, moving to get out of the car.

Oliver, however, grabbed her wrist and stopped her from getting up. "I'm not going after him unarmed." He stated sternly, holding Smoak's glare.

With a begrudging sigh, she used her free hand to reach into the glove box and procure his flechettes, still fixed to the leather strap. Smoak held them out to him, clearly unimpressed by having to arm the man who, until half an hour ago at least, was trying to arrest her. Oliver couldn't blame her, he'd probably be doing the same in her position.

"Until I know you're not going to try and arrest me, this is all you're getting." Given how unamused she suddenly sounded, and that their target was getting away, Oliver relented and took the weapons from her.

Shrugging off his suit jacket, Oliver rolled up the left arm of his shirt and fixed the wrist strap to himself. He wasn't used to going after a target in this style without having his _other_ suit, though Oliver supposed that these weren't his usual circumstances for chasing a target. He had to marvel at the way Smoak seemed to be ready to chase this guy down still wearing her floor-length gown from the gala, and it briefly reminded him of why he had been so interested in taking this case. Though Oliver did make sure to remember that he was currently working with ARGUS's #1 most wanted criminal, he would definitely need to keep his guard up.

It took them hardly any time at all to catch up with the man Smoak wanted, the only problem being that the kid had heard them coming. Oliver realised that it probably wasn't smart of Smoak to be wearing heels in a place that had so much of an echo, it was a veritable forest of shipping containers. They were almost on top of the kid when Oliver saw the brief glint of metal, which told him the kid had a gun. Before he'd even thought about it, Oliver had pulled Smoak away from the current path they were walking and onto one of the adjacent ones, pushing her into one of the containers for cover. It took Oliver a brief moment to realise just how close together they were, Smoak had her back pressed up against the cool metal of the shipping container, and Oliver was practically flush against her, unconsciously shielding her as the hail of bullets slammed into the metal beside them.

"How chivalrous," another of her smirks crossed Smoak's lips. "But I'm afraid you'll have to do a little more than swing me around the dance floor and save my life _once_ if you want a more intimate feel, but I love that you tried."

They were getting shot at and she was still flirting with him, this woman was something else entirely and Oliver was in amazement of her. Resigning that any dialogue on his part would undoubtedly lead to even more innuendo, Oliver simply chose to glare at her. He noted the way the Smoak's head tilted a little, clearly listening for where their assailant was. Oliver took her lead, using the echo of the kid's footfalls to give himself a pretty good guess at where to aim. He waited for a few more moments until he heard the signature click that let him know that the kid needed to reload. As soon as he heard it, Oliver stepped out of his cover, only taking the briefest of moments to line up his shot. Instinct taking over, Oliver threw one of the flechettes, the small dart striking the kid's gun and sending it spinning into the shadows. It couldn't have taken much longer than a second before Oliver had crossed the distance and hit the kid with his best right-hook, leaving him to crumble to the floor against one of the containers.

He turned when the sound of Smoak's heels returned, and Oliver observed her closely as she approached, trying to fight against the way his eyes were drawn to her swaying hips in that sinfully tight dress.

"Harper," She grinned, feigning affection. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, nowhere close to long enough, Smoak." The kid, Harper, threw a glance at Oliver who was still towering over him. "Mind calling off your bloodhound?"

"Oh, don't give him so much credit." Smoak began, throwing a teasing smile at Oliver. "You know what I want, Harper. Tell me about this prototype, why is the US government so interested in it?"

"You're the tech genius, you tell me."

The shift in Smoak's mood was beyond obvious, the light-heartedness fading completely. "You've got until the count of ten."

Oliver knew that Smoak had a reputation for carrying out any threat she made, and in that moment he was actually fearful for the kid's life. He could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't bluffing, whatever Smoak was threatening him with, she fully intended to do it.

"Don't try that on me, we all know you're not a killer, Smoak."

A smug grin met her lips. "Who said anything about killing you?"

Smoak dropped to a bended knee, reaching into the pocket of Harper's hoodie and procuring his cell phone. After a few brief seconds of observing her typing, Oliver decided to interject.

"What are you doing?" He asked cautiously.

"Well, Harper here just so happens to be the best fence and information broker on the East Coast, only thing is he tends to be a little carless about his digital footprint. I'm tracking down where his latest little stash of illegal goodies is hidden."

"Oh come on, Smoak, don't do this." Harper's plea was all but ignored by Oliver and Felicity.

"You can do that from a cell phone?" Oliver smiled in amazement. "And I thought those rumours had been exaggerated."

The smug smile that she gave him at that comment was dazzling. "The rumours about me are never exaggerated."

"Really?" Oliver took a few steps towards her as he spoke. "Well then I've got to say I'm a little surprised by the two separate firearms you've got hidden in that dress of yours, given that you're supposed to be a pacifist."

Smoak raised an eyebrow at him, another of her sultry grins slamming into his vision. "Those guns are _very_ well hidden, just how hard were you looking, Queen?"

Oliver allowed his grin to match hers. "Hard enough."

"Look guys, if you're going to keep up with the flirting at least do me the courtesy of knocking me out." Harper snapped the two back into the reality of their situation.

Felicity winked at Oliver before turning the phone, so that Harper could see the screen. "Now the way I see it; you either tells us what we want and I'll give you back your phone and we'll walk away _or_ you don't tell us anything and I might accidently broadcast this location to the GCPD."

"Shit." Harper deadpanned. "You know, there's a reason I stopped working with your people, Smoak."

"So then, Roy, do we have a deal?"

He barely known the woman for two hours, but Felicity Smoak was proving to be the most interesting mark Oliver had ever broken the law to work with.

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 **Author's Note: Another chapter down, please leave a review if you enjoyed this or if you have any general comments for me. It means a lot to know that people are enjoying my work.**

 **P.S. I'm totally aware that I'm uploading this on a Tuesday when I just said I was going to do Wednesday's. I won't be at home to post this tomorrow so y'all are getting it early.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

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They'd taken Harper back to Felicity's safe-house, because there was no way Oliver was going to risk the integrity of an ARGUS safe-house by bringing ' _the best information broker on the East Coast_ ' there. For a women who had a reputation of being the most elusive hacker ARGUS had ever chased, Smoak certainly didn't understand the principles of keeping a low-profile, because her hideout was one of the most luxurious penthouses in Gotham City. It had remarkably high ceilings and was filled with minimalist furniture and paintings, the wall to the left of the entrance was all glass, giving a spectacular view of the city's night life.

The apartment complex was almost directly across from the Wayne Enterprises building, so close in fact that, at least with a decent pair of binoculars, you would be able to see into the building. Oliver deduced that had been how Smoak had been planning her heist. His train of thought was interrupted by Smoak, rather forcefully he might add, pushing Harper past him and into what Oliver assumed was the main living space. The kid collapsed down into the plush sofa, leaning back and seemingly relaxing. His reaction was clearly throwing Smoak off her game, she must have been expecting him to still be afraid.

Oliver was particularly skilled when it came to interrogation, whether he was the interrogator or the victim, he had more than a few tricks up his sleeve to get the other person talking. The key to being interrogated, he had learnt long ago, was to turn the tables on your interrogator; you were the one with the information and so were the one with the power. Harper must have had a pretty similar rulebook, because he had significantly calmed since Smoak's threat against his stockpile of illegal goods. Oliver made a note to try and find where that location was, ARGUS would probably be glad to shut down a black-market stash as a side-effect of his mission.

When Harper did finally answer their questions about the significance of the stolen prototype, Oliver was convinced that either Smoak was seriously mistaken about the kid's skills as an informant, or he was genuinely a better actor than Oliver had given him credit for.

"So that's it?" Oliver spoke. "This is such a big deal because the government want to _sell it_? That's the answer to this conspiracy?"

"Of course, do you actually know what it is that you're chasing here?" Harper grinned.

That pissed Oliver off, because no he didn't. All he had been briefed on was that some industrial prototype had been stolen and Felicity Smoak's organisation had previously shown some interest in it. The file he had been given had included a few pictures of the device but that had been it, Oliver wasn't big on technology so those images had meant nothing to him.

"Well, I'll spell it out for you." Harper continued. "It's an earthquake generator, the Markov Device they call it. The thing generates earthquakes that can level a few city blocks. Do you have any idea how much that makes it worth?"

"A device like that would bring a lot of heat down on any organisation that used one." Oliver stated.

"There's a buyer for everything, you should know that by now, Smoak." Harper turned his attention to Felicity. "Our dear United States government could never sell it themselves. So they hired a third party to steal it."

It was then Smoak got involved, she took a long stride forward and stopped right in front of Harper, anger bubbling behind her eyes.

"Who? Who did they hire to steal it?"

"Some organisation called Brother Eye, but as far as I know, that group got disbanded years ago." Harper grinned up at her as he spoke, clearly enjoying the anger he was provoking in her.

That name, Oliver knew he had heard it before. He hardly had a chance to think when he saw the way Smoak reacted to that, he noticed first that she was angry and after that came both sadness and confusion. If Oliver hadn't based so much of his life around reading people's faces then he might have missed her sharp changes in hr mood, Smoak was good at hiding her emotions.

Then it clicked, the place he had heard that name before. Brother Eye had been the hacker group that Smoak had been a part of during her collage years, there's been two other members of that group but Oliver hadn't bothered to learn their names. That must have been why Smoak was reacting so badly to the news, and Oliver concluded that there must have been a reasonably distressing end to Brother Eye.

Knowing that he needed to draw Harper's attention again, less he say something to upset Smoak further, Oliver continued in his interrogation.

"And what does the League of Assassins have to do with this?"

Harper went pale at that, he had clearly heard the rumours about the League and, if his credibility with Smoak held up, he likely knew a little more about the organisation than ARGUS did. Though, Oliver had never seen just the name of the League inspire such fear in a person, so Harper must have known more about them than he did.

"You never said _they_ were involved in this!" Harper spoke as he jumped to his feet, the panic evidence in his voice when he carefully avoided actually saying the organisations name. "I'm done, Smoak, I'm not going anywhere near this if _they're_ involved, I'm out."

Oliver watched as Harper ran out of the penthouse, and Smoak made no move to stop him, so neither did Oliver. It probably wasn't a smart move to let Harper just walk away, the kid now knew where Smoak's safe-house was and he knew what they were looking for, that was going to make the whole operation a little more complimented. If Harper was an information broker, then it was likely he would already be offering to sell the location of the safe-house to the highest bidder and, so far as Oliver understood, Smoak had more than a few enemies that would be willing to pay for that information.

The woman in question still seemed to be in shock at Harper's revelation about Brother Eye, she'd floated over to the computer set-up she had and was currently staring blankly at the screen. Oliver knew he shouldn't, but there was something about Smoak that was drawing him in. Quickly closing the distance between them, Oliver paused less than a foot from Smoak, slowly taking in her expression.

"Brother Eye, what don't I know?" Oliver was trying to keep his distance, he knew he couldn't get involved with her but he still felt the need to know…more about the mystery that was Felicity Smoak.

"It wasn't a terrorist group," Her voice was small as she began, but Oliver could hear the way her confidence built as she spoke. "We were hacktivists; me, Cooper and Myron. The only crime Brother Eye ever committed was Coop trying to wipe out some student debts."

So that was a bit of a shock, ARGUS's files had more or less exclusively stated that Brother Eye had been disbanded by the FBI after some attempt to access information from a ' _secure government database_ '. Though those files had never mentioned a third member, Smoak and Myron Forrest had been the only named members of the group, this third name, _Cooper_ , was new to him.

"So I'm just supposed to believe that? There's no mention of a Copper anywhere in the Brother Eye files." Maybe he was being a little harsher to her than he needed to be but Oliver knew it was necessary if he wanted to keep his distance.

"So don't believe me, either way there's work to do." She was clearly fighting the urge to snap at him, Oliver could see the emotion behind her well placed mask.

"I should take you in right now, I know Brother Eye is involved, I've got the lead I needed from you."

"You should, but you won't."

"And why is that?" Oliver was beginning to get pretty short on patience.

"Because you know this is about far more than some earthquake device, and because you need me."

"Oh, really? I _need_ you now, so I?"

She chose that moment to actually challenge him, Smoak closed the rest of the distance between them and looked up at Oliver, her expression devoid of any of its usual flirtatious arrogance.

"You don't know this world, cyber-culture and hacktivists isn't exactly your area of..."

"Criminals are criminals, Smoak. There might be different pieces on the board but we're playing by the same rules." Oliver sharply cut over her.

"So do you know how to trace someone's digital footprint? Do you know which groups are the real deal and which ones just talk a big game? How about which people to go to if you need some tech bringing in through less than legal paths?" Smoak was really squaring up to him now. "You need me"

Oliver leaned in close, doing his best to appear threatening to her. "I don't trust you."

That was the truth, at least. He couldn't trust her, she was a criminal and he was an ARGUS agent, he was trained not to trust people like her. Of course that didn't stop him wanting to trust her, but how could he? He also wanted to trust the ARGUS files on Brother Eye, but he couldn't do that either. Smoak wouldn't have had any reason to invent another member for the group, and yet her recollection didn't match up with what he had been told. Even if Smoak's version of the story was true, why would ARGUS need to hide a member of the group?

"Oh it wouldn't be any fun if you did," Smoak began, the flirtatious smile returning to her lips. "But I'm not asking you to trust me, I'm just asking you to honour our agreement. I've barely used two of those twenty-four hours."

If he had any sense left in him, Oliver would call this off right now. Damn his agreement, he had all he needed from her and for that she should be to be returned to ARGUS. He had too many questions about her, too many little details that didn't add up. Why would she invent a member of Brother Eye? What made her break out of her cell? _How_ did she break out of her cell? The more he thought about it, the more Oliver realised that he knew absolutely nothing about Felicity Smoak. The one thing he could safely say was that she never did anything without a good reason.

Oliver tried to keep his expression level during his musings, though if Smoak was half as good as the stories said she probably saw through his mask. She seemed to remain unfazed by his intimidating stance, usually Oliver found that people were a lot more fearful of him in situations like this, though in these situations he was usually wearing his hood. If Smoak was at all intimidated then she wasn't showing it.

It didn't take Oliver much longer to reach a decision, as much as he didn't trust Smoak, he wanted answers more. Plus he still had a prototype earthquake generator to find.

"Okay then," Oliver tried to hold his level expression. "Twenty–two hours to go."

 _XXX_

They decided to leave not long after, Smoak agreed that it wasn't worth running the risk of remaining at the pent-house given that Harper as well aware of its location. She'd packed surprising light, only grabbing a laptop bag as the two of them left. Oliver took the keys for Smoak's car out of her hand as they entered the building's parking lot, ignoring her disgruntled moan and offhanded comment about Oliver having control issues.

"Well, we've done it at my place, how about yours?" Smoak grinned at him.

Oliver was beginning to wonder if it was actually possible for the two of them to have a conversation that didn't involve Smoak making some sort of sexual innuendo, though he was quickly losing hope of that being at all possible. Electing to ignore her question, knowing that they would have to go to his safe-house, Oliver instead pulled his phone from his tuxedo jacket and called the first number in his speed dial.

After a few rings the call was finally answered, and Oliver as met with a pretty disgruntled Amanda Waller. "Mr. Queen, I trust you have a good reason for calling me at 3AM?"

Oliver glanced at the digital clock that was built into the car's display, after everything that had happened over the last few hours he had completely lost track of time. Not that it made much difference to him, Oliver was pretty accustomed to functioning with little-to-no sleep.

"I need you to authorise a team." Oliver cut straight to the point as he started the engine, taking the car out onto the streets of Gotham.

"So your trip to Gotham hasn't been a success."

It really shouldn't have surprised Oliver to know Waller was tracking him. He hadn't called in his visit to Gotham, in fact he hadn't given Waller a status update since he had left Smoak's former FBI prison. The woman had eyes everywhere, and Oliver wasn't remotely interested in knowing how she had been tracking him, it would only make her feel even more smug about it.

"I wouldn't say it's been a complete failure."

"So you've found Felicity Smoak?" That certainly seemed to have improved Waller's mood.

"Yes." Oliver knew he couldn't lie to her for long, and it would probably be in his interests to keep Waller informed of such an important development.

"And the prototype?"

"Not yet, but I've got a pretty good idea of where to start looking."

"So you're brining Smoak in."

That wasn't a question and Oliver knew it. Find and Capture had been his objective with Smoak, he had achieved that and, by ARGUS standards, any further information she could provide them with could be done while she was in a cell. Oliver glanced over to Smoak, knowing that he had to make a pretty convoluted choice; Waller would be pissed if he didn't turn Smoak over to ARGUS, but at the same time he did still need the blonde for his mission.

"Not yet."

"Mr. Queen, I loathe to think what your reasons for wanting to keep that woman out of a cell are, but your mission was to find her and return her to ARGUS custody."

Yep, he was right; Waller was pissed.

"The mission just changed, things got complicated."

It wasn't strictly a lie, as far as Oliver was concerned, Smoak's revelation about the league and the involvement of Brother Eye made this whole mission a lot more complicated than he had initially thought. The hacker had been right, he didn't know this world anywhere near as well as she did, and ARGUS didn't exactly have any field agents that were well-versed in the underground cyber-culture.

"Complicated how?" She was getting more and more impatient and Oliver could sense it.

"Look, I just need a few more agents to finish this thing up," Oliver briefly paused, considering his options. "You still owe me for Hong Kong, _Amanda_ , consider this me cashing in on that favour."

That had been Oliver's last card to play with Waller, every other she'd run had been clean, she never got involved herself. Hong Kong was one of the very few times Waller herself had gone into the field and it had backfired massively, Shrieve had screwed them both over and, for whatever idiotic reason, Oliver had saved Waller's life. Ever since he had kept that favour looming over both of their heads, waiting for the right day to use it. Oliver really needed Smoak to be worth losing that favour.

"Fine." Waller's tight-lipped response told Oliver she was anything but happy about this, but she seemed to be relenting anyway. "But let's make one thing clear Mr. Queen, if you end up causing any embarrassment for this agency, you're _finished_."

"Agreed, I'm still waiting on that team."

Oliver had been trying to ignore the way Smoak had been watching him while he spoke with Waller, and he knew she had only been getting half of their conversation, unless her hearing was superhuman of course. His latest comment seemed to have caught her attention though, as she tried to meet his eyes despite Oliver's focus on the road ahead.

"I thought you worked alone?" She pushed, and Oliver elected to ignore her comment.

As much as he tended to run operations alone, Oliver had a team of sorts back at ARGUS. The group had originally formed after Waller's original ' _Suicide Squad_ ' had gone rogue, and she had decided to send in some real ARGUS agents to take them down. The group had, much to Oliver's chagrin, taken the name of 'Team Arrow' when he became their unofficial leader during the operation. After that, Waller had decided to occasionally use them in lieu of the Squad, which worked well for them.

"Who do you want?" Waller continued. "Agents Diggle and Michaels are out in the field already, Shado won't work with you after that business with Slade Wilson, which leaves…Merlyn and Lance."

"Good," Oliver kept his answers short. "Send them to my regular hotel in Gotham, have them check in with the usual pseudonyms."

"You'd better have answers for me the next time we speak, Mr. Queen."

Before Oliver could answer, Waller ended the call. Placing the phone back in his jacket, Oliver rounded the final corner and drove Smoak's car into his hotel's underground parking. When he turned off the engine, Oliver realised that Smoak was staring rather intently at him.

"I had no idea that you and ' _The Wall_ ' had history."

Deciding to ignore that question as well, he got out of the car, watching Smoak do the same.

"I've got back-up coming in, they shouldn't be much more than a few hours."

"And we can trust them?"

It was impossible to blame Smoak for being concerned about the trustworthiness of his back-up. Though Oliver did find her question a little laughable, all things considered Oliver wasn't sure if he could absolutely trust Smoak, in fact he was almost certain that he couldn't.

"With my life."

 _XXX_

It was approaching 6am by the time they finally made it into his suite, the red light of sunrise bore into the main room though the large glass windows. Oliver stripped off his tuxedo jacket and bow tie as he walked, throwing them over the back of one of the lounge chairs as he did. Taking a brief moment to glance out over the city, Oliver realised how different Gotham looked during the day, also remembering how little he liked the city. It was far from being on the list of his favourite places, but Oliver supposed that he now had no choice but to remain in Gotham for longer than he had planned. Tommy and Laurel still wouldn't be arriving for another few hours, which left him alone with Smoak for much longer than he would like.

Turning on his heel, Oliver observed Smoak intently. The blonde seemed to be taking in the suite in minute detail, and Oliver had no doubts when he considered that she would already have mapped every potential entrance and exit from the room. He couldn't blame her for it of course, Oliver had done exactly the same thing on entering her penthouse. Smoak also seemed to be glancing across at Oliver himself every so often, as if comparing the details of the suite to him, as if they would give her some clue to who he really was.

"Spare bedroom, plus en suite." Oliver commented, pointing at one of the doors that lead off from the main room. "You should find something your size in the wardrobe."

Oliver couldn't deny that he took a certain joy in her reaction to his words, Smoak's flirtatious smile bounced back in full-force at the mention of clothing. Though, Oliver couldn't quite decide if she look more thrilled or disappointed at his comment.

"So you _entertain_ a lot of women here do you?" She grinned, crossing the distance to the door he had pointed out. As her hand gripped the handle, Smoak glanced back at him. "I wonder what it is that makes them leave their clothes behind."

Instead of offering her an answer, Oliver simply gave her an incredulous grin, neither confirming or denying her suspicions. While he would never admit so to Smoak, ARGUS always supplied their safe-houses with every possible necessity, including female clothing. However, Oliver was more than content to allow Smoak to draw whatever conclusions from his words she wanted, a small part of him enjoyed having that small advantage over her.

After a small shake of her head, in what Oliver assumed was disbelief, Smoak disappeared into the spare bedroom. Taking his leave, Oliver did the same, turning on his heel and heading to the relative safety of his own room. As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, Oliver immediately began to doubt the wisdom of leaving Smoak unsupervised in his suite, though there wasn't anything of any value anywhere but his room. Oliver always kept any of his ARGUS materials, including his _tools_ , in his own room, as an added precaution.

Oliver's body seemed to be functioning on autopilot as he stripped down the remainder of his outfit and stepped into the en suite's shower. Letting the hot water wash over him, Oliver quickly began to run over everything he knew about Felicity Smoak from her ARGUS files and all the other rumours he had heard. She was infamous throughout the world's intelligence agencies for being the most dangerous hacker and technology thief out there, it was safe to say that her reputation preceded her. Though her life before joining Brother Eye was something of a mystery, her file referenced growing up in Vegas with an abusive father, but nothing much else, Smoak's past was something of an enigma. Oliver had decided that it was more than likely because Smoak herself had wiped those particular records, perhaps in some attempt to protect her family.

Added to that was the small issue of the fact Smoak was supposed to be serving life for murder, a murder that Oliver was still determined to get to the bottom of, one way or another.

Before he had even realised it, Oliver was stood in the mirror straightening the tie of one of his favourite Armani suits. It had briefly crossed his mind to wear something a little more comfortable, between missions he would usually just relax in jeans and a t-shirt, but experience had taught him that the Armani tended to go over better with the opposite sex. Which had lead Oliver to believe that Smoak might actually slip up and trust him if he kept up their routine of shameless flirting.

"Hello, handsome." A feminine voice sounded.

Oliver spun around, almost ready to defend himself, when he saw Felicity Smoak leaning against the open door to his room, a smirk on her lips. Before he even considered replying, Oliver dragged his eyes over her new attire. She had exchanged her flowing gown for a pink blouse, a short grey pencil skirt that did wonders for her legs, and a pair of high heels. Her hair had also been put up into a ponytail, and glasses now rested on her nose. As much as he had thought that Smoak looked stunning in the gown, Oliver had to admit that the whole secretary looked worked a whole lot better for her. Though, looking at her in that moment, Oliver never would have believed she could have been the same seductress and criminal he had met a few hours prior.

"And you've been stood there how long? Because I'm pretty sure I closed that door when I came in." Oliver fired back.

"You did," Smoak crossed the distance between them, reaching up to straighten his tie. It didn't escape Oliver notice that she had chosen not to answer his first question. "So, I've got a friend in the front room I want you to meet."

Oliver's eyes flicked to the open door and his defences immediately went up.

"You brought someone here? Do you not understand the meaning of 'safe-house'?" Oliver kept his voice as a sharp whisper.

"Oh relax," Smoak laughed. "This guy isn't at all like Harper, I trust him. Besides, your back-up is still a few hours away and I'd like to use that time to plan, I am on a clock after all."

"You just can't sit still can you?" Oliver sighed.

"Where would be the fun in that?" Smoak began, before taking Oliver's hand and tugging him towards the main room.

* * *

 **Author's Note: So all things considered I actually don't know where this story is going. I have a vague idea of where I want to end up but I have literally no idea how I'm going to get there, so this is going to be fun.**

 **If you enjoyed or have any general feedback, feel free to drop a comment or PM me.**

 **See you all in the next one.**


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